A MOST WANTED MAN


UK/US/Germany, 2014, 122 minutes, Colour.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Grigory, Dobrygkin, Willem Dafoe, Rachel Mc Adams, Robin Wright, Homayour Arshadi, Nina Hoss, Daniel Bruel.
Directed by Anton Corbijn.

A first recommendation would be that this is a film version of a John Le Carre novel. The second recommendation is that it is a contemporary story of 21st-century espionage. Then there is the recommendation of the fine performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman and audience regret at his death earlier in 2014 at the age of 46. And the direction is by the celebrated Dutch photographer and video maker, Anton Corbijn, who also directed Control, the story of Ian Curtis and the band, Joy Division, and The American, with George Clooney. As well, this film has an excellent international cast. The screenplay was written by Australian Andrew Bovell.

John Le Carre’s novels have been published over a period of more than 50 years and there have been film versions over this half-century, starting in the 1960s with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, to the George Smiley stories, to The Constant Gardener and the recent Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy.

This present film might be called an intelligent film about intelligence.

The setting is Hamburger, with visits to Berlin. In Hamburg, Gunther Beckman (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is in charge of a surveillance and espionage company, an unofficial group at the disposal of the German government. The particular problem for the group is the arrival of Issa, a seeming-terrorist from Turkey. Immediately, the group goes into action, identifying the man, photographing him, a payout to a railway attendant for information…

The real target, however, is larger, a shipping company, based in Cyprus, which seems to be involved in huge amounts of money laundering for terrorist groups, allegedly managed by an Arab philanthropist in Germany, with a fine reputation but who seems to be diverted funds to the terrorists.

Two significant characters come into the action, Annabel (Rachel McAdams), daughter of a judge who is in rebellion against her father, becoming a lawyer for leftist group. She is representing Issa, the man at the centre of the surveillance. He wants to get in contact with a respectable banker (Willem Dafoe), whose father collaborated with Issa’s father and finances in the Soviet Union thirty years earlier.

It should be said that while this is an espionage film, there is practically no violent action throughout the whole film, rather the emphasis on surveillance and intelligence. There is an abduction, there are some interrogations, there is a car and taxi crash at the end, but violence is not the aim of the film.

There is a great attention to the timing and deadlines, the role of the banker and the amount of money available for Issa, the abduction of Annabel and getting her to collaborate with the surveillance group, and the same for the banker. The German authorities want Issa. Gunther’s plann to divert Issa’s money to the philanthropist and catch him, if possible, signing documents diverting the money to terrorists. The German government officials are single-minded, not particularly flexible. And into the equation comes the CIA agent, Martha, played with quiet and intense ruthlessness by Robin Wright.

The complexity of the plot is fascinating for audiences who like espionage stories. Each of the characters has their own particular interest. And the build-up to the arrest of the philanthropist is skilful – and so are the final images of the film which are not quite what we might have imagined.


1. The popularity of the novels by John Le Carre over 50 years? The range of espionage in that time? Film versions? Espionage in the 21st century? From the Cold War, post-Communism, Africa, the nation of Islam?

2. Contemporary, the groups for espionage, authorities, official or not? Government roles? The CIA? The territories for each group, rivalries, collaboration or not?

3. The use of Hamburg, as an ordinary German city, day and night, the streets, cars, taxis, the buildings, interiors, exteriors? Government offices? The banks? Apartments? Scenes in Berlin? The songs and the musical score?

4. The relevance of surveillance, authorised or not, visual, audio, bugging rooms, pens with wireless? So much surveillance, the vast staff and listening in, tracking people, following, processing the data, the conclusions?

5. Gunther as a spy? The introduction, at 2.26 in the morning, the phone call from Jamal? His age, appearance, continually smoking, his past in Lebanon, his being considered a failure? His secret group? Working for the German authorities but outside their range? German staff? His suspicions, the case, Issa coming to Germany from Turkey, tracking him, the photos, at the railway, paying cash to the guard for information? Identifying him, his name, from Turkey? Annabel and her working for him? His having the name, Brue, the contact at the bank? The background of the philanthropist, Jamal as his son, again giving information about his father, noticing the Shipping Company and the contacts in Cyprus? The donations, the inconsistencies in the account? Gunther and his suspicions? Issa and the memories of his father, his father’s link with Brue’s father? Gunther going to listen to the philanthropist? Issa, getting Annabel, wanting migrant status, the setup, the planning, everybody collaborating? The effect, Gunther and his control, the dialogue with the German government, with Martha and the CIA? Martha and her comment that her work was to make the world a safer place – Gunther later using it to hold her, her claiming the victory?

6. Issa, his arrival, out of the water, in the cold, going to the railway station, seeing him in prayer, following the Turkish woman, carrying her bags, getting help from her and her son in the apartment? Contact with Annabel, her background, law, helping? Urging him to shave saving his identity? The plan for the bank, Brue, verifying his identity, with the key? The amount of cash? Trusting Brue? With Annabel, telling the story of his background, his brutal father raping his 15-year-old mother? Her jewellery – and giving it as a gift to Annabel? The collaboration, getting the passport, the work with Brue, his helping with the apprehension of the philanthropist? His being taken?

7. Annabel, her father’s judge, her reactions against him, leftist groups, practising the law, riding her bike? Her working with Issa, sheltering him? Her being abducted by Gunther and his group? The talk, the interrogation? Issa and is playing chess, Annabel liking him, persuaded by him, her presence at the interviews with Brue, participating in the plan to get the philanthropist? The passport, trust, his being taken, her disillusionment, sitting in the gutter?

8. Brue, the two fathers and their contact, banking connections with Russia in the 1980s, the sordid background? Issa and Brue wanting to be more honourable? The meeting with Issa and Annabel, the keys, verification, the boxes and files, the glimpse of his home life, his wife and her taunting him about drinking? Meeting with Gunther? Genuine, the amount of cash, the discussions, agreed to the setup, the meeting with the philanthropist, his substitution of the Shipping Company item? His being taken?

9. The philanthropist, his address, his followers? The Nation of Islam? The Alla language? Jamal and his relationship with his father, giving information to Gunther, not wanting to do it any more, the phone call in the early morning, his prayer, his sense of betraying his father? Gunther persuading him to stand firm? Driving his father, saying he was caught in traffic, the final kiss? The philanthropist and his smooth personality, manipulating the money?

10. Irna, in herself, as good assistant, eavesdropping on people, her presence in the jobs, surveillance?

11. The staff, their motivation for their work, not the CIA, their listening, acting, the abduction, providing the taxi – good support staff?

12. Martha, CIA, her manner, friendship with Gunther, knowing about him, saying Lebanon was not his fault but an American fault? The meals, the diner, the conversations with Gunther? Her motivations, her manoeuvres, at the end, taking the philanthropist and Issa? Ruthless?

13. The German government, the delegates, the meetings, the bureaucracy, setting deadlines, the meetings, the discussions of matters? Betraying Gunther?

14. The film having little action, the pursuit through the club, the abduction of Annabel, the final taxi crash? The film of intelligence about it Intelligence, rather than action?

15. The realism, the cafes, the characters watching, the surveillance, principles for espionage, strategies and tactics, intensity and detail? The reinforcement of the need for security in the contemporary world? The role of Islam, Islamists? The threat?